Language and its Functions Practice Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the systems and functions of language, text construction, and linguistic subsystems as presented in the lecture notes.

Language

A meaning-making system that allow us to convey thoughts, values, associations, cultural backgrounds, and aspirations.

Signifier

The material form of a word, such as written letters or sounds used to produce the word.

Signified

The mental concept or image associated with a specific word or signifier.

Sign

The combination of the signifier and the signified.

Context (Jakobson)

The setting (time and place) or circumstances in which a message is communicated.

Addresser

The person delivering a message.

Addressee

The audience receiving a message.

Contact

The means or channel through which the addresser and addressee stay in communication, such as face-to-face or phone.

Code

A system of signs, such as a language, that is common to both the addresser and the addressee.

Referential Function

The function of language used to share information presented as factual and objective, commonly using declarative sentences.

Emotive Function

Also known as the expressive function, it allows users to express emotions and desires.

Conative Function

Language used to cause the addressee to react, typically involving directions, questions, and commands.

Poetic Function

Also known as the aesthetic function, it focuses on the beauty, wit, or formation of the message itself.

Phatic Function

Language used to create and maintain social connections rather than convey specific information (e.g., greetings).

Metalinguistic Function

Language used to describe or check the understanding of language itself.

Register

The stylistic variation of language defined by its use, involving features of language and levels of formality.

Tenor

The relationship between participants in a communicative exchange.

Field

The subject matter under discussion which helps determine how specific the language will be.

Language Mode

The medium of the text, specifically whether it is written or spoken.

Authorial Intent

What an author intends to achieve with a text, influencing language choice and preparedness.

Morphology

The study of words and their parts, particularly morphemes.

Morpheme

The smallest unit of meaning within a word.

Root

A single morpheme that contains the primary meaning of a word.

Stem

A word part consisting of one or more morphemes to which an affix can be attached.

Inflectional Affix

A bound morpheme that attaches grammatical properties (like tense or number) without changing the word's fundamental meaning.

Derivational Affix

An affix that creates a new word by changing the meaning or word class of the root or stem.

Lexicology

The study of words, including their form, meaning, and behavior within a language's lexicon.

Lexeme

A single unit of meaning in the lexicon, usually a word.

Open Classes

Word classes that freely allow new words to be added, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Closed Classes

Restrictive word classes that rarely allow new terms, such as pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and determiners.

Syntax

The study of how words are combined into structures like phrases, clauses, and sentences to communicate meaning.

Phrase

A group of words forming a structural unit that conveys meaning but does not contain both a subject and a verb.

Clause

A set of phrases that must contain both a subject (noun phrase) and a predicate (including a main verb).

Predicate

The part of a clause that contains the main verb and all its modifiers, describing the action of the subject.

Complement

A word or set of words necessary to complete the meaning of a subject or predicate, appearing after a copula verb.

Adverbial

Optional information in a clause that describes where, when, how, or how often an action occurs.

Semantics

The study of meaning, including logical meaning, lexical meaning, and meaning-making in texts.

Semantic Domain

A group or range of words that have related meanings and lexical relationships.

Inference

The process of deriving meaning from a text using information not explicitly present, often relying on cultural or social context.

Phonetics

The study of how speech sounds are physically produced and classified.

Phonology

The study of sound patterns and variations within and between languages based on language background.

Prosodic Features

Acoustic elements of speech including pitch, intonation, stress, tempo, and volume that affect sequences of syllables.

Intonation

The patterns of pitch variation across phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Pragmatics

The study of how language is used within a context and how that context contributes to the intended meaning.

Paralinguistic Features

Features of speech outside of words, such as vocal effects (laughter, whispering) and non-verbal communication (gestures).